The present invention relates to storage arrangements in general, and more particularly to a silo having a callapsible, particularly cylindrical, vertical container mounted on a support structure.
Silos of various constructions are already known and usually include a cylindrical container which is so mounted on a support structure that its longitudinal axis extends vertically. A silo of this type usually has a discharging portion or hopper of a downwardly conically converging configuration, which has a closable discharge opening at its lower end. Such silos have to accommodate grain or other particulate or pourable materials, so that they have to have substantial dimensions. For instance, the container may have a height of 5 to 7 meters and a diameter of several meters, such as 11/2 to 3 meters.
If such containers were to be transported to the location of use in assembled condition, they would take up a considerable amount of space during transport and/or require the use of special trucks or the like. To alleviate this problem, it has already been proposed to make the containers in a plurality of sections so that they could be transported to their destination in disassembled condition, and then assembled in situ. In this context, it has been proposed to select for the sections such dimensions that they can be at least partially introduced into one another and transported in this condition. However, all of the heretofore known constructions of this type were less than fully satisfactory, particularly because of their complexity and the multitude of steps which had to be carried out during the assembly of containers at the location of use. Moreover, the complexity of the mounting operations required the use of highly skilled labor for the erection of such silos.